Improvement in lobe attachments for ear-drops



LQUES L. NORTHUP.

Improvement in Lobe Attachments for Ear Drops.

No. 119,530 v Patnted Oct. 3,1871.

' FIG I WiTNESSES. INVENTUR.

UNITED STATES PATENT O EIoE.

LOUIS L. NORTHU'P, OF JOHNSTON, RHODE ISLAND.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 119,530, dated October 3, 1871.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LOUIS L. NORTHUP, of Johnston, in the county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented a new and useful Lobe Attachment for Ear-Drops, 850.; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawing making a part thereof, is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Figure l is a front view of an ear-drop with my improvement attached. Fig. 2 is a side View of the same. Fig. 3 shows in detail the construction of the lobe attachment which forms my improvement.

Heavy ear-drops or pendants which are carried in the usual way in which such ornaments are worn, by hanging them to the ear by means of a wire hook or loop inserted through the earlobe, always stretch the puncture in the lobe so as to produce an unsightly effect. Again, it is not unusual to see cases where the puncture in the ear-lobe has from accident been torn into a slit much too large for the ordinary ear-rin g wire. It is the object of my improvement to provide an attachment with which any form or style of ear-ring, ear-drop, or pendant can be worn, and which, when applied to the ear-lobe, will conceal any blemish which exists in the shape of the puncture, and will greatly assist the comfort of the person in wearing ear ornaments, and diminish materially the risk of the lobe being torn. I designate my improvement a lobe attachment for ear ornaments.

A A, Fig. 3, represent two metallic plates, which should properly be made of gold, and they may be of any size or ornamental form suitable for wearing on the ears. One of these plates is furnished with a hollow stud, a, projecting at right angles from its face, and which is to be inserted through the puncture in the ear-lobe, and

the other has a solid wire stud, b, correspondingly located and similarly projecting from its face.

It is intended that the wire pin b shall be inserted in the socket of the hollow stud a and be held therein by friction, so that said plates A and A shall, to the extent of the size of such plates, cover the ear-lobe upon both sides, and consequently conceal the puncture in the lobe.

Although I have shown the two plates A A as held in place by the friction of the surface of the wire stud b against the inner surface of thehollow stud a, it is evident that in place of the stud b a spring-tongue can be used, which can engage with a suitable catch made in the socket of the hollow stud a; or, if preferred, a screw-thread may be cutin the stud b to fit a corresponding thread in the socket a. Both of the plates A A, constituting the lobe attachment, are furnished with an eye, 0, through which the supportingwire of the ear-ring or pendant is to be passed to hang the ornament when it is to be worn.

From the foregoing it will be understood that the greater diameter of the stud a as compared with that of the ordinary wire proper to be used reduces the risk of the puncture in the lobe becoming torn, while the plates A A conceal any blemish which exists. It is not necessary, as it is in the case of pendent ornaments, that the lobe attachments should be removed nightly for the comfort of the wearer, and such attachments, although worn without the pendants, may be so made as to constitute in themselves attractive ornaments.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The lobe attachment, Fig. 3, to be applied to the ear-lobe to give support for an ear ornament, substantially as described.

Witnesses: LOUIS L. NORTHUP.

A. J. OUsHING, PETER F. HUGHES. 

